Gaming Empires May Crumble Without this One Thing…

by Beth Divine•24 Nov 2018

There are a number of games companies and some of them are
high on the lists of big successful companies. The cost of both consoles and
games would make the casual observer think that surely there is nothing that
might threaten their security and financial heft.

But you might be surprised to learn that these companies,
generally thought of as being mainstream creators of clean – albeit sometimes
very violent – fun, actually rely on sectors of the entertainment market that
you might find rather unusual. That’s right, companies who rely on clean family
gaming fun as their public, advertised face; they make a large percentage of
their income from adult entertainment!

Not necessarily using the console to play pornographic games
– those tend to be few and far between. Computer games that are given the
highest rating – Adults Only – are those that contain extreme violence, nudity,
sexual content and so on, are said to have been given the ‘kiss of death’ as
many retailers refuse to stock them and customers tend to shy away from buy
them for a variety of reasons.

Rather, watching regular porn, accessing porn sites, through
the consoles is the way that customers are subtly encouraged to use their
console, purchase upgrades and to use, for example, innovations like virtual
reality. It is the purchases of hardware to enhance the playing and viewing
experience, and software upgrades and so on, that keep the companies making
good money. In-app purchases, downloadable content and the like are the next
best money-spinners.

Purists may scoff, claiming that surely any money made from
porn and the adult entertainment business must be incidental and not really
that important to keeping the finances in the black. However, studies have been
performed that prove, definitively, that games companies that eschew adult
themes and put stringent parental and anti-nudity controls on their consoles
lose a significant margin of market share because of it.

It is perhaps fair to say that perhaps not everyone wants adult content
– but they DO want the possibility of accessing adult content should they so
desire to! It is a fine distinction perhaps, but one that many people would be
happier with!